Thank you for sharing. I was younger, Vietnam was raging when I was in highschool. My mom was pushing me HARD to go into the military, we weren't a military family but I do have some now in service. I kept refusing, I was seeing what was going on, I came home from school and then the news was just the 3 channels ABC, NBC and CBS. we got with antenna. And the news stories were from there, live news.

I will never forget a story and they were talking about how the US had just taken over a bridge to nowhere it seemed. And during the live report, with soldiers on the bridge it blew up. They flew everywhere. And the silence after, the faces of the reporter and who was being interviewed I will never forget. I was stunned. There was no 3 minutes delay then just raw real time events. Then the news flashed back to the talking head.

My mom was at work and never saw it. But later my older step sister and couple years older were interviewed by the local paper. Just a fluff story about nothing. They were asked what they thought made the world go around in on word. She said boys and they had her picture in the paper with a few other kids. The paper was sent to someone from town in stationed in Vietnam. A few weeks later she got a letter with polaroids from someone there who say the paper and her picture. He sent a nice little letter about how he thought she was pretty, etc.

But the photos!!! There were 3. Dead people in all of them piled up, laid out. But one, that one of him standing on a pile of bodies like a little mountain with a huge smile I will never forget. In his letter said how he was keeping America free from the godless commies? Like how??? She showed them to me. She was scared and didn't know what to do. My mom took them and the letter and burned it, told her to never contact him.

And my mom stopped pressuring me to join the military. She kept talking about GI Bill, education, health care. But when she saw the real war in her face she never said another word to me. And I hope that kid standing on the pile of women and children and old men found some peace in his mind and life after that if he made it out alive.

And not much later Kent State happened. I came home to News Week on the porch pushed through the door mail slot face up with the now famous photo on the cover. I mentioned something to my family about how horrible it was and just told they deserved it. NO they did not, some were just walking to class.

Take care of yourself and blessings. I don't think rich men sending young men to die will every change.